


Lies Beneath the Skin

by Starshaker



Series: Lost and Found [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Loss of Control, M/M, Suspected but not actual mind control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 11:07:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5826190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starshaker/pseuds/Starshaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sad + slightly angsty Kylux one shot. </p><p>Hux believes Kylo Ren is manipulating him into attraction and sex out of a sick need for a distraction/outlet for his frustration. Kylo Ren consistently denies exerting any influence of Hux</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lies Beneath the Skin

Hux had only just returned to his quarters when there was a knock at his door. It was rare that an alert didn’t come directly to his holopad. He didn’t bother reaching for his cloak. He’d dropped it over his chair as he’d entered and it didn’t seem necessary to reach the extra distance to grab it.

He rolled his shoulders and straightened his posture as he opened the door. The dark shadow of Kylo ren stood on the other side, seeming to fill the doorway.  
“Ren,” He nodded sharply, “Is there something?” He asked. Ren’s shoulder’s tightened and his breaths were shallow. 

“Come in,” Ren strode in. Hux checked the corridor before closing the door behind him. There was rarely anyone lingering on this side of the base. Rarely anyone lingering anywhere on the base. 

When he turned back Ren was removing his mask, the mess of dark hair revealed from it’s casing. It was a relief not to have to read Ren’s subtle body language after such a long day. It was never easy at the best of times and Hux had suffered for and practised the skill for too long.

The seconds began to tick by and Ren kept his eyes on the helmet in his hands.  
“I’m not on duty Ren, if this can wait,” He said, his impatience was lacking at best. At times Hux thought the two of them far too similar and other times they seemed to have centuries between them. Hux’s military versus Ren’s jedi training. Both raised assuming it was they who had the power and control to rule. Hux looked forward to the day when they would face each other as adversaries, he knew it was coming. Which of them would bring the other to his knees, he wasn’t sure. 

“You said to come to you if I felt- If I became unable to control,-” He sighed and reconsidered his words, “If my frustrations were threatening another outburst,”  
“Will a report come through any minute of another bout of destruction?”  
“No, but i’m conflicted,” Ren said.

“I’m not your babysitter or counsellor Ren, you’ve had more than enough training under Snoke. Perhaps you should find Captain Phasma and have her send you through the stormtrooper’s reconditioning program,”  
“And when you become frustrated, do you have no outlet?” Ren asked scowling up at him, his head still bowed.

“Multiple outlets, none involve destroying this base or worshipping the helmet of my dead grandfather,”  
“How dare you? How did you,-” Ren’s head snapped up and his shoulders starightened. His anger seemed to grow his presence in the room and Hux felt a chill across his skin.  
“There are feeds from all the rooms on this base, Ren,” Hux said, he tried not to respond to the bristling of tension he could feel in every nerve.

“My rooms are private,” Ren hissed.  
“I happen to be the only one able to access yours,”  
“Thought you weren’t my babysitter,” Ren said snidely,  
“Someone has to keep an eye on you,”  
“I don’t appreciate it,”

“Learn to Ren, because if there’s anyone you need watching your back it’s _me_.” He stepped closer and stared into Ren’s eyes as Ren stared straight back. He dropped his voice low and couldn’t resist pushing Ren a little further, “If there’s anyone’s eyes you want on you, it’s _mine_ ,” 

In a fraction of a second Hux went from feeling entirely in control to entirely lacking any semblance of it. Ren’s eyes were blown wide and his breathing shallow and they were standing altogether too close. All Hux could concentrate on was the way Ren was leaning in and how he could close the gap.

-

“The hell was that Ren?”

Hux stared at the ceiling. His mind was reeling as the warmth was still settling through him. It had to be mind tricks. A push here and word of intonation there that had corrupt Hux’s thoughts. He felt a curdling in his gut. Every second his base attraction to Ren had continued had compromised his guard, and given Kylo Ren a chance to manipulate.

The bed was too narrow for the both of the and Hux’s shoulder rested atop Ren’s.Beside him on the bed Ren’s breathing was still quick and a surreptitious glance saw his hands clenched in the sheets. 

Ren shot his own glance Hux’s way and Hux snapped his gaze away. He pulled himself to sit at the side of the bed. He wasn’t self conscious enough to reach for his clothes immediately. He didn’t want to give Ren the satisfaction. 

“You ever do that to me again and even Snoke won’t save you,” He snapped. Hux stood and glared down at Ren who stayed lying flat out across the churned up sheets. There was a flush across his chest and a light haze of sweat gleaned against his skin. Ren glared back up at him.  
“What exactly do you think I did to you?” Ren sneered and Hux steeled himself against letting his eyes drift down Ren’s torso again.

“Get out of my room, Ren,” Hux said turning and heading into his private shower room. He pushed the door shut behind him and tried to convince himself he wasn’t showing weakness, over turning his back on the man who’d just succeeded in manipulating him.

He deliberately kept his mind as blank as possible until he knew Ren had left. He listened carefully over the noise of the shower for the sound of Ren collecting his things and the door shutting behind him.

With his back against the wall he sank to the floor and searched his own head for exactly how Ren had pushed him into doing something so foolish. He’d read about the subtle gestures and force tricks a trained scholar could use. Hux had always thought he had a strong enough mind to resist them and yet Ren had just gotten exactly what he’d wanted without asking twice. Without asking at all. 

\- 

For all Hux knew Ren was walking around the base content with himself. If he were wrong about Ren using mind tricks to manipulate him Hux imagined there’d have been several more incidents of damage reported since. There had been none. Ren was efficient, consistent even in his duties and quite drastically less readable. Hux could usually notice if Ren’s focus was on task, or preoccupied with a distraction, even when he was distracted specifically by a will of the force. Usually. 

For the past two weeks he could barely read anything from Ren’s usual tells. 

Hux refused to be intimidated. He occasionally wondered if he could catch Ren watching him ,or planning his next manipulation, or perhaps Hux had only been a brief distraction and he bored Ren now. He didn’t know if that was preferable. 

Hux knew that Snoke wouldn’t be pleased with either of them being distracted from the cause. Snoke hadn’t mentioned sensing anything from either of them. Without any incidents reported on Ren’s behaviour, it was only a shame that progress wasn’t moving faster.

 

-

Hux swore it wouldn’t happen again. He practised his own mind defences each evening and when he found himself in Ren’s company he could only hope that was what was keeping him out. Until it didn’t.

It happened again and Hux never felt the whisper of Kylo’s voice in his mind. He never felt the choices being made for him. He pulled Kylo into his quarters by his sleeve and as he’d pressed the younger man against the door. He felt Kylo’s teeth against his neck.  
“Fuck you Ren,” He hissed as he pressed a hand down over Ren’s groin. “I don’t want this, but you can’t take it from me,”  
“Then stop,” Ren whined and pressed up into the pressure, “Just stop,”  
“Make me,”  
“I don’t make you do anything,”  
“Liar,” He snapped as he pulled at Ren’s clothes and dug his nails into flesh. 

-

Weeks could pass without them having anything more than a conversation on Snoke’s orders, and other times, with more frequency, Hux found Ren in his company two nights running. He’d curse Ren out and claw his nails into Ren’s skin as he felt Ren’s dig into his own back. Every time it happened in his quarters he’d order Ren out, and by the time he returned from the shower, Ren had gathered his things and left.

Until one day Ren didn’t arrive when Hux had just returned to his room. It had been a week since he’d last stood in Hux’s doorway, and with few enough words he’d brought them both to climax in Hux’s bed. Hux stepped from the shower when he noticed the shadow of someone in his room. He froze and then silently cursed that he’d left his weapon in the other room where he’d dis robed. 

He was careful to tread softly as he peered around the edge of the door. His guard dropped when he saw it was Kylo Ren was sat, clothed but for his helmet, on the edge of Hux’s bed. 

“You know usually by the time I come out of the shower you’re gone. I happen to like it like that,”  
“I wanted you to listen,” Ren said, his eyes on his hands in his lap.  
“Get out Ren,” He reached for his blaster, “I will shoot you,”  
“I don’t force you to do anything. You start it, every time you start it,” Ren insisted  
“You make me,” Hux  
“This isn’t on me!” Ren pushed himself up and was immediately in Hux’s space, the helmet cast aside and it fell to the floor. Hux couldn’t look away from Ren’s blood-viened eyes.  
“Why should I believe you?”  
“Because I didn’t want this either, and you took it from me!” Ren’s voice wavered felt a feeling deep in his chest fracture and crumble. All the resolve he was holding to in regards to Ren’s mind tricks left him. Hux suddenly realised he would willingly let Ren manipulate him. That this man with all his power was exactly how Hux was willing to go out; fighting Ren and enjoying it.

Hux saw a tear fall from Ren’s face and couldn't watch for more. He glanced down and reached for Ren’s fists still clenched at his sides. He flinched at the contact but didn’t pull away for more that a second before turning his hands into Hux’s and allowing them to be held.

“You terrify me,” Hux admitted, his voice shaken and little above a whisper. Ren’s knees seemed to buckle and his head fell to rest at the crook of Hux’s neck.

“I’m going to leave The First Order,” Ren said as his breathing slowed pace. His heartbeat at his wrist beneath Hux’s fingers slowed. Hux’s own skipped as he beliefs were challenged again in a matter of minutes.  
“I should kill you,” Hux muttered, his hands clenched tight around Ren’s. A part of him truly wanted to draw blood.  
“Do it,” He shot back sharply stepping back and schooling his expression back from it’s heightened desperation. Ren shook his head seemingly to dispel the pain in favour of resentment and took another step back when Hux reached for him, 

“After I leave you won’t see me again,” He said as he turned his back on Hux and moved towards the door.  
“Your place is here Ren!” Hux growled out, his own emotions thrown into a spin. His nails digging into his own palms.  
“Snoke already wants me dead,” Ren shot him a sideways glance, “I’m not the apprentice he wants,”  
“Do you want my sympathy Ren? Funnily enough I’m disinclined,” He threw the blaster across the room where it clattered down off the bed. The noise seemed to startle both of them. It had been a long time since Hux had lashed out, long before he’d joined the First Order. 

“You know as well as I do my last two missions have been as close to suicide missions as Snoke can arrange,” Ren said quietly. It was ridiculous to imagine someone watching the two of them now. Ren the rational one with a steady voice and Hux vibrating with emotion, “Leaving will put a price on my head, and staying will be foolish,” Ren said.

“Too scared to manipulate me, now that I know your secret? Think that I’ll shoot you as you come,” Hux spit out. Ren’s eyes shut for a long moment and Hux wondered how long the image would stay with him. Would it bring him a look of betrayal or contentment as the blast took the last breath from his lungs? He didn’t believe his own words anymore. Ren had never needed to be honest with him here. Would have been safer if he had not. 

“You couldn't tell me until you’re already half gone?” Hux said. He felt entirely too vulnerable. 

“You’ll rule the galaxy one day,” Ren said turning back from just within the doorway. His words felt kinder than Hux wanted to hear.  
“I know,” He said. His own words no doubt kinder than Kylo wanted to hear. Hux saw the cringe and long moment he took to pause before he took the final step out of Hux’s room. He replaced his helmet as he headed down the corridor and didn’t look back. Hux listened to his footsteps until the door shut behind him. The only noise that could then be heard was the low hum from the engines and ventilation.

Half an hour later a message on his console beeped to life.

 _“Sir, Ren has requested an untrackable vessel and is requesting permission to leave the base. Is this authorised?”_  
“Orders from Snoke, Captain. Allow it clear passage,” Hux said, he schooled his voice into the steady command as his finger rested on the response button. It felt final. It felt wrong.  
_“Yes sir,”_ Phasma replied curtly. 

Kylo Ren was gone.  
-

Kylo settled on Anoth, a vaguely familiar place to him, one he remembered from when his family still tried to protect him. His name became Ben to whoever asked and no one did.


End file.
